Last chapter sucked. Okay, I get that. You don't need to shower me with praise for me to understand that fact. Really, though, all you people are too kind. Some of the things you write about me are going to go to my head, and it's big enough as is. Rather than explore my ego, though...story!

Angel hated his unlife at the moment. It had been Wesley's idea to summon a wizards bus; so it was Wesley's neck that Angel was eyeing.
The Knight Bus jerked slightly as it came to a halt. "'Orry bout that!" the conductor's voice came. "Bit bumpy in 'ese 'arts. Mrs. Engels, we've arrived at the Danbury Mint."
Angel shook his head. They'd been all over Britain in the last half hour. It was quite amazing - quite sickening, too - to see all of the country flashing past.
"Wesley..." he said, through gritted teeth, as the bus sped up again.
Wesley, for his part, seemed quite unaffected by the bus. "I think that our stop is next," he said, looking around at his friends. "Only a little ways more."
"Oh..." Fred moaned. "I barely had time to get over that curse from the other night...now this..."
Gunn looked at her wryly. "Don't complain," he said. "I can still taste the donut I had for breakfast this morning."
"Donuts..." Whistler said. "Don't mention food, you'll make me hurl."
The Knight Bus jerked enormously and came to a stop. "Village 'o Hogsmeade!" shouted the conductor.
Slowly and painfully, Angel and the others piled out of the bus. Their luggage was already on the curb.
"Good to see you again, Stan," Wesley said in parting.
"Yeah, an' you, too!" the conductor replied, and, shutting the doors, the Knight Bus departed with a tremendous "BANG!" that made the street shudder.
Wesley took a deep breath and smiled. "Hogsmeade!" he said happily. "I haven't been here in years. Since I was in the Order, in fact. Oh, my, it hasn't changed at all!"
And he rushed away, his bag over his shoulder, and the rest of the Angel Investigations staff following slowly behind.
"How could he stand the Bus Ride from Hell?" Lorne asked.
"Experience," Angel replied.
Regaining some form of bodily composure, Angel, Fred, Gunn, Whistler, and Lorne followed Wesley towards town.
Wesley felt compelled to give each of them a tour, though it wasn't entirely necessary. As it turned out, Whistler had actually been present for the founding of Hogsmeade way back when.
"I've been around a long time," he explained, as Wesley continued talking about the post office and the Shrieking Shack.
Eventually, they reached the city gates and the path that lead to Hogwarts. Wesley, sure footed, started immediately up the path, but Angel stopped. "Don't you think that we should have a plan first?"
"Why ever would we need a plan to go to school?" Wesley replied.

Buffy and Faith lead the Slayers across the grounds. It was getting dark - time for a patrol of the grounds, especially near the forest.
So far, they had only encountered two vampires near the forest. But it was full to the brimming with demons, and they always had to be on the alert.
As the Slayers crept through the underbrush, they felt the approach of something powerful.
Angel stopped again, feeling the presence of an enormous power close by. Whistler had stopped to, and said, quavering, "Oh, shit."
A microsecond later, all hell broke loose.

Craig had been playing his little game of hide and seek with the Slayers when he staggered slightly, as though stricken. He felt something enormously powerful drawing nearer. His first thought was of vampires; but no vampire had ever made so big an impression on him before.
As he watched, the Slayers crept slowly, stealthily, through the brush. The small group of people approaching the castle had halted. Craig was suddenly terrified. He felt the emotions flood him, but years of practice blocked them out and reasserted his consciousness.
The spiders leapt from the shadows of the forest, springing to attack. The fight was begun before anyone realized what was happening. The spiders were in a frenzy; it was not a coordinated attack.
Bounding forward, Craig sought to join the fray, even as the Potter boy, who had been out practicing Quidditch, dove to aid as well.

Harry watched as Craig melted into existence from what had appeared to be a shady section of a big tree. The boy moved with incredible speed towards the fight. Harry, too, was hastening to join the battle, which already looked bad.
The Slayers were a match in strength to the spiders under normal circumstances; but now, the spiders were in a blood frenzy, and their strength seemed double. Cool heads and good leadership was what was keeping the Slayers alive.
"Shannon! Shannon, watch out!" Buffy called, fending off a spider with the Slayer's Scythe. She jumped to the aid of the young Slayer, who was being cut by the pincers of a humongous spider.
Faith, with a short sword, was keeping several of the spiders off Giles and the other civilians. She thrust quickly into an attacker, gutting it, and using the same motion to attack another spider, sent it hissing backwards. The spider didn't even take the time to regroup and get its bearings. It simply attacked again, vicious in its blood lust.
Angel had seen the danger before anyone else and had been slightly more prepared for the attack. He'd managed to put himself between the spiders and his friends, anyway. Wesley's good mood had vanished in an instant when he had seen the spiders, and he had pulled from his bad several small hand pistols. He tossed one to Gunn and began firing immediately.
"Hey, I want a gun!" Fred said.
"Actually, hun, I think it might be a good time for us to skedaddle," Lorne said, looking a bit frightened. He wasn't a coward, but he knew that giant killer spiders were a bit out of his league physically. Still, he drew a short sword out a pack and stood ready to defend himself.
Whistler, for his part, was trying to do some good. He couldn't be killed by the spiders, of course; but he couldn't seem to kill them very effectively, either.
"Robin! Robin, get back!" Faith yelled out of the throng. A spider flew through the air, slashing Wood across the chest. Wood fell.
"Robin!" Faith yelled. She slashed her way quickly to his side, skewering the spider that had attacked him. The thing shrieked in agony as it died.
"Robin!" Faith said, bending over him and allowing Kennedy to cover her. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"I think..." Wood began. "I think its poisonous..." he trailed off, blinking rapidly.
"We need to get him out of here!" Faith yelled.
Buffy caught a leaping spider with the blade of the Scythe, using its weight to slash it in half as it fell back to earth. "Go! We can cover you!"
"I can't leave!" Faith said, relieving Kennedy.
Upon hearing this, Fred and Whistler dashed forward, grabbing Wood and dragging him from the fight.
They were almost home free when a spider appeared in front of them. It snarled deeply at them, and prepared to spring. Fred screamed, and Faith, agonizingly, realized that she was too far away. The spider leapt...
And was intercepted mid flight by Craig. Boy and spider landed ten feet away. Both sprang immediately up. The spider lunged in quickly, but Craig was ready. With a deft movement that was too fast for the human eye to see, he seized one of the spiders pincers and flung the spider away, keeping his grip on the pincer. It ripped away from the spider, causing it to utter a horrific cry. It hit the ground fifty feet from Craig and didn't move.
The boy whirled back towards Fred, who was frozen in shock. Craig's face, usually passive, was alight with fire. "Go!" He yelled. As Craig dived back into the fray, Fred and Whistler dragged Wood away.
"That's my boy," Whistler muttered.
Faith nodded to Craig as he fought his way towards her. "That was impressive," she conceded.
"Glad you didn't beat me up?" Craig asked. He was still carrying the sharp, severed pincer. He flung it mightily at the nearest spider. It struck and drove deeply into the arachnid's skull, killing it instantly.
"Yeah," Faith said, redirecting her energy back to the attack.
Harry, who had left his broom back amongst the trees, had joined the battle as well. His fighting skills weren't as honed as the those of the Slayers, but his Stunners and Full-Body Binds were still effective enough.
The fight was quickly turning in favor of the Slayers. Buffy rallied them to her and began a sweep, pushing the spiders back into the forest. Before they reached it, most of the remaining spiders broke and fled, still in a partial frenzy.
Buffy looked up from the bloodied scythe to see Angel.
"Hello, Buffy," he said. "How've you been?"

Dumbledore met the Slayers in the Hospital Wing, which was much larger now than Harry remembered it. They were expecting more casualties this year, he realized, and his stomach turned over.
"Are you all okay?" Dumbledore asked, as he entered the room. He noted quickly the presences of Craig and Harry in the room.
"We had a few injuries," Buffy said. "Nothing too serious. Wood's going to be off his feet for a few days, but he'll be okay. We did pretty good." The last was said rather more viciously than Buffy had intended.
Dumbledore nodded. "Perhaps, if you, and Mr. Giles would come this way, you can explain to me what, exactly happened."
Buffy nodded, and with Giles, moved towards the exit. The three were about to leave when Dumbledore stopped. He turned slowly and seemed to sniff slightly at the air.
"Why is there a vampire in the hospital wing?" he asked.
Buffy kicked herself mentally. "Professor Dumbledore, this is Angel," she said, by way of introduction. "He's a vampire, but he has a soul, too."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. This girl was so full of surprises...."A pleasure to meet you, then," he said.
"The pleasure is all mine," Angel said. Dumbledore noted the look he sent Buffy. They seemed to be communicating simply by looking at each other.
"Perhaps you would like to come as well, and...my lord...Wesley!" he exclaimed. "I had heard that you were around again, too. Well, by all means, the two of you should accompany us as well."
They departed, heading for Dumbledore's office.
Slowly, the Slayers filed out, wandering away. The fight had been intense, but they'd eaten intense for breakfast for months. Snippets of their conversations that could be heard might have contained challenges to chess matches and references to the state of one's hair. The talk was light.
Craig left too, thought Harry did not know the young man's destination. Harry watched him go, and eventually left as well. His mind was made up.
He strode down the corridor until he stood before the entrance to Dumbledore's office. There he sat and began to wait.

"They just attacked? Without warning or provocation of any kind?" Dumbledore asked.
"They didn't just attack," Buffy said. "They were agitated beyond anything I've ever seen."
"It wasn't a planned attack," Angel contributed. "They were too thinly spread. I think that they went into a rage and we were unlucky enough to get in the way."
Dumbledore looked pensive for a moment. "It takes quite a bit to enrage one of those spiders," he said. "Hagrid has assured me that, though dangerous, they do not get truly angry with ease."
Wesley nodded too. "Something large must be out there, then. Something that can make a hoard of spiders feel like tearing apart whatever they come across."
Giles rose from his chair, feeling discontent. "But what?" he asked.
"There is no way for us to know that now," Dumbledore said. "For now, I think that it would be in everyone's best interest to get some rest."
They rose and began to leave. Giles, Wesley, and Angel left first, discussing quarters for the new arrivals. Buffy left a moment later, muttering something about how hungry she was.
Dumbledore sat in the empty office for a moment, then said, "You can come in."
Harry entered. "How did you...?"
"I just did," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Yes," Harry said. "Craig...I'd like to know...more about him."
Dumbledore stared at Harry for a moment. "Then why don't you ask him?" he asked, seriously.
Harry fidgeted a bit. He felt strange, standing here before Dumbledore. "He makes me feel strange," Harry tried to explain. "I just don't understand him enough to engage him in conversation."
Again, Dumbledore took a long time to pause. When he finally spoke, it was very quietly. "What would you like to know?"
Harry considered. There was a lot that was strange about the boy. "Why is he so strange?"
"Why are you so strange?" Dumbledore asked. "Because of a series of events that were entirely not your fault. Craig is in a similar position, though the events contributing to his current disposition occurred at his birth.
"We're not sure how, or why, but Craig was born with the ability to hear the voices of the dead."
Harry reeled back. It shocked and sickened him immediately. Then a sense of pity overwhelmed him, as well. "His parents...?" Harry asked.
"We don't know," Dumbledore replied. "He was found, as a baby, by a demon called Whistler, who raised the boy to fight for the cause of good. The voices in his head never go away, you see. They don't stop. If it weren't for his enormous mental discipline, Craig would have gone insane long ago. As it is, he is rather unbalanced sometimes."
Harry considered for a moment. He would sort through this all later; for now he wanted to know more. "Where does his strength come from?" he asked.
"Training," Dumbledore said, simply. "Craig spent a lot of time in a demon dimension to develop certain skills Whistler felt were necessary for his survival. As a result, Craig got a lot stronger."
Harry nodded. It was enough. "Thank you, Professor."
He turned to go, but Dumbledore stopped him. "Harry - Craig just suffered an enormous ordeal. All of his friends at the AWA were killed, but he can still hear them in his head. He doesn't want any friends, but I think he needs them. Good night, now."
Harry left, trying and, ultimately, failing to sort through this barrage of information. He was in his bed in Gryffindor Tower before he even bothered to think about anything else. By then he was asleep. He dreamt of Ginny.

Ginny dreamt of Harry. She could see him, slightly blurred, at the center of a room. He reached out to her. She reached out to him, smiling, because she wanted to feel him again after so long. Their hands met, and their fingers entwined.
They drew closer, embracing tightly. They kissed passionately through it all. When the kiss was broken, Ginny said, without understanding why, "You're soul..."
"I know," Harry responded. "I love you, Ginny."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ron appeared and stabbed Harry.
He turned to dust.

Do you hate me for the cliffhangers? I just love writing them so much that I can't stop! But that also means that I can't stop writing. By the way, this chapter took me about two hours to write. Incredible, no? Anyway, I'm thinking that the next chapter is going to be even bigger than this, so don't expect it too soon. I have to balance the rest of my life with this, too, as I'm sure you can understand. Lots 'o love.